My Darling,

things are going rather well at the moment. Your wonderful mum is giving you all the nutrition you need, both your parents love you very much (well that is a constant), you are growing and you are so very beutiful and well behaved.

If one day maybe things become a little tight at least daddy now knows how to make bread. Maybe you already got accustomed to the lovely nurturing smell of yeast and baking today. It will always remind me of my grandfather when he came back from the POW camp and told my granny, never mind us having lost everything material, at least i know how to make bread. And bread and cakes and sweets he made much to my and my fellow grandchildren’s delight!

Ingredients:

• 500 grams of flour, sifted. Can contain up to two thirds of sifted wholegrain wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 2 heaped teaspoons of dry yeast
• 340 ml luke warm water (below 40 degrees celsius)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

• Sift the flour into a plastic bowl and fold in the salt, do not add whole meal husks or any grains yet!
• form a crater for the yest mixture in the middle of the flour and compact then run your finger around the rim to form a moat for the oil
• dissolve the sugar in the luke warm water then add the dry yeast and whisk a few times until fully dissolved and let stand for one minute
• pour the oil into the moat around the flour
• carefully pour the yeast mixture into the crater
• start mixing with a powerful mixer with kneading hooks starting from the crater and  working more and more flour into the mix before reaching the oil
• keep kneading until all water and oil have been picked up and all is well mixed, then add your wholemeal husks and extra grains such as poppyseeds, oats, lintseeds, sesame seeds.
• keep kneading until you have a smooth but sticky mixture, make sure to pick up loose flour and flakes of oil/flour mixture and incorporate, take care not to get the mixer stuck as this may destroy anything but the most industrial grade appliances. Usual mixing time about 3 minutes
• When finished mixing, sift some flour over the batter and cover with towel and let rise for 45 minutes in a warm place. In the tropics it suffices to make sure there is no draft.

• after about  45 minutes rising fire up the oven (our oven is digital, it only knows ON and OFF) and place a tin with approx. half a liter of water in the bottom. This will prevent the bread from become dry and hard

• uncover batter which by know should have doubled in volume and will deflate upon touching with your well floured hands. Form two loaves on board covered with flour and keep covering hands and loaves with flour until finished shaping.
• sift some flour on tin and place loaves on it, approx. 2 inches apart as they will rise again
• leave tin with loaves on top of oven where it should now be nice and warm, let sit for another 10 minutes then cut a lengthwise slit into the loaves and brush the gash with oil.
• Put tin with loaves into oven which by now should have reached its maximum  temperature
• bake for approx. 30 minutes or until it looks done and the stick test comes back negative. Feel free to brush with water 2 or three times during baking and at the end of the baking process.
• let cool on rack
• enjoy

—-GERMAN—–

Link here

Zubereitung

Mehl und Salz in einer Schüssel verrühren. Die Hefe im lauwarmen Wasser auflösen und den Zucker unterrühren. Eine Vertiefung in das Mehl drücken und das Olivenöl auf den Rand geben. Die Hefe-Zucker-Wasser-Masse in die Mulde gießen und alles mit dem Rührgerät kneten, bis ein gleichmäßiger Teig entstanden ist. Der Teig kann ruhig etwas klebrig sein. Zur Weiterverarbeitung von außen mit Mehl bestäuben. Den Teig ca. 45 Minuten gehen lassen.

Den Teig noch einmal gut durchkneten und 8-10 Brötchen formen. Die Brötchen im Backofen bei 50 Grad ca. 10 Minuten gehen lassen. Eine feuerfeste Schüssel mit Wasser in den Backofen stellen, die Brötchen mit Wasser bestreichen und den Ofen auf 230 Grad heizen. Die Brötchen einschieben und backen, bis sie anfangen braun zu werden. Wer die Kruste gerne etwas weicher hat, kann die Brötchen während des Backens und vor dem Abkühlen erneut mit Wasser bestreichen.

Bei Vollkornbrötchen kann man z.B. 340 g Weizenmehl (Typ 1050) und 160 g Roggenmehl verwenden und die Brötchen nach der ersten Ruhezeit mit Körnern mischen und nach Belieben auch bestreuen.